[beager]

"Time on site/in app" is a strong indicator of revenue per user for apps that monetize through ads, and a fairly well correlated to time spent across all active users.

I think advertising is a misalignment of goals between user and company, full stop. And if time on site is a way to realize more revenue from advertising, the creators of the platform will engineer ways of increasing time on site, and the further down the brain stem they can get with this objective, the more success they'll find, and they'll spend less effort retaining that.

Large ad-supported online networks do this on a scientific level, and it's hard for engaged users to break free. I quit Facebook on January 1 and there are still multiple times per day that I open a browser tab when bored or frustrated and type 'f' thinking I'll go to Facebook. They're in my brain stem.

Really, anything that is used as a means to improve revenue by exposing users to more ads is misaligned with the users' goals.

[jkeat]

"Let's demand technology that serves us, not advertising."

http://www.timewellspent.io/

[soVeryTired]

>"Time on site/in app" is a strong indicator of revenue per user for apps that monetize through ads

Why don't they just report revenue per user though?